PlayStation Premier: Yakuza Producer Brings Two to PS3

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July 17, 2007 - Sony brought out the third parties at the PlayStation Premier press conference in Tokyo today, and they responded with a bunch of big PS3 announcements. Sega was no different as legendary producer Toshihiro Nagoshi took the stage to announce a handful of new games.

First up was an original IP from key members of the Sakura Taisen development staff. Senjou no Valkyrie (roughly translated to English as Battle Field Valkyrie) is a new PlayStation 3 game that combines action, strategy and RPG elements. The focus of the game is on drama and visual style, with a new graphical technique, referred to by Nagoshi as "Canvas," giving the visuals the look of a water color painting. We'll get a closer look at the game at the Tokyo Game Show in September.

Next up was an update on Imabikisou, a sound novel from Chunsoft that was first unveiled a few months back. The big news at the event was a release date. Sega will publish the movie-heavy digital novel on 10/25.

Nagoshi closed off the event with hints on not one, but two PS3 games with which he's personally involved. How personally? Well, did we forget to mention that Nagoshi showed up at the event in robes and flanked by two geisha girls? This cosplay was actually a hint at Nagoshi's next game.

In development for the PS3 from the team that made Yakuza, Nagoshi described the game, whose name was not announced, as "my biggest production since I started working on consumer games." He expects it to exceed Yakuza in its ability to move players. An official unveiling will take place on September 14th, with a release planned for Spring.

As for the second game, Nagoshi was only able to say "I believe we'll be able to announce it in the not-so-distant future." We can't wait to see what he wears then.